The High King and his pawns
by nicodiver
Summary: Bilbo Baggins has always lived a peaceful life in the Shire with his parents until his tenth birthday when a horrible tragedy affects him and he is forced to become a slave to the Elves of Mirkwood.
1. Chapter 1

"My dear Bilbo, you've grown so much. I can't believe you're already 10 years old. Time flies by so fast," Belladonna looked at her son and kissed his forehead lightly then patted his curly, messy head with a soft hand. The little boy looked back at his mother and smiled brightly, he embraced her in a tight hug before releasing her.

"When do I get to open my presents? I'm so excited mother!" Bilbo exclaimed whilst stomping his hairy feet excitedly at the wooden floor.

"Bilbo my boy, don't be too hot-headed now, you got to eat your cake first!" Bungo Baggins emerged inside Bilbo's tiny room with a food-tray in his hands. On top of the tray there was a big chocolate cake adorned with ten small carrots, each of them was lightened with a candle fire. Bilbo's eyes went big when he saw the lightened carrots and chocolate cake; he licked his lips and flopped down on the bed. Belladonna moved the bedside table and put it in front of Bilbo, Bungo put the tray with the cake down on the table and watched his son blow out the ten carrot candles with complete bliss. Belladonna and Bungo cheered when Bilbo managed to blow out the candles in one go, and then they all started to eat the cake.

"Whoa, I'm stuffed!" Bilbo said when he had eaten the last crumbs of the cake. "This cake was the most delicious cake I've ever eaten. You have to make it again next year mother!"

Belladonna chuckled softly and nodded, "Of course my dear Bilbo. I'd do anything for you my sweet."

Bungo nodded, agreeing with Belladonna before going away to fetch the presents they had bought for their son. Belladonna took the tray to the kitchen before coming back to Bilbo's room and watching him opening his presents. The boy screamed when he opened the first gift, it was a map of Middle-Earth, made of thin but strong parchment. Bilbo couldn't hold back his joy, he had wanted a map of Middle-Earth for so long and now he finally had one! He hugged his parents, some tears of joy dripped down his cheeks while he thanked them over and over again for the map. Belladonna and Bungo put their arms around Bilbo's small body and hugged him tightly.  
>"Oh! This book! About how Eärendil slayed the mighty dragon Ancalagon the Black! I have always wanted to read it! Thank you so much mother and father!" Bilbo hugged the book to his chest and smiled brightly at his parents. "I love you so much!" he said and received kisses from them both.<p>

* * *

><p>Bilbo opened his map for the tenth time that evening. He looked over the great forest Mirkwood and touched The Lonely Mountain with his fingers, imaging how it would be to be among all that gold, though the thought of the dragon in there scared him a bit. He pulled his blanket closer whilst looking at the map, wondering how Mordor looked like.<br>"What are you saying Bungo? Elves? Here?" Belladonna's voice was loud and a bit shrill; Bilbo heard his father shushing her and she quickly lowered her voice. The map's magic that had held Bilbo in its grip all evening had disappeared, Bilbo tiptoed out of his bed and stood at the door, trying to listen what his parents were whispering about.

"Yes, I was just out with Buffo and I saw an elven archer standing behind a tree. I don't know what he or she wanted, but her or his eyes glowed green in the dark and both me and Buffo got scared we ran back here!" Buffo was the Baggins family dog, a small white and grey dog with a pointed snout and curved tail.

"But what are the _elves_ doing here in Shire? What do they want?" Belladonna asked frightened. She had never seen an elf, just heard scary stories about them when she was a little girl. Her mother had been an excellent storyteller and every time the Eve of Hallows struck The Shire, her mother had told the story about the blood hungry elven king named Yggdrakr that went out every full moon to drink the blood of innocents.

"I don't know my darling. I'm just as scared as you", Bungo said and took her into his arms and held her softly. A sudden knock on the door made them both jerk with fear.

"Go to Bilbo and lock the door to his room, blow out the candle and hide in the wardrobe!" he told her quickly before walking to the door and opening it.

Belladonna hurried to Bilbo's room, he had already gone back to bed and blown out the candle. He looked at his mother with frightened eyes.

"I heard what father said, are the elves here to destroy my birthday?" he asked sadly whilst clutching his hands around the map of Middle-Earth. Belladonna locked the door and sat down beside Bilbo in the bed and put her arm around his shoulders, holding him close.

"Destroy your birthday? No my darling, I don't think so. I don't know what kind of business they have here; we will just have to wait and see. Father wanted us to be safe so he said we had to hide in the wardrobe, let's take your blanket and map with us. Okay my sweet?"

Bilbo nodded, gave the map carefully to Belladonna and collected his blanket into a ball; they went into the wardrobe together and closed the door quietly behind them. The outdoor opened and light steps were heard on the floor.

"Good evening master Elf. What can I do for you at this late hour?" Bungo's voice was firm but still friendly. Bilbo imagined him standing in front of the Elf with a proud demeanor. Buffo was sitting beside him, snarling viciously at the foreign Elf.

"Good evening Halfling", the Elf sneered with a voice made of poison. "The only thing I want from you is gold and good slaves!" the Elf laughed crazily, a scream of pain from Bungo echoed through the halls of Bag-End, Buffo barked insanely and was about to attack the Elf, but instead he was silenced with a stab of a Elven-made dagger. The dog fell down on the floor, bleeding out of a deep gash.

"No!" Bungo's voice screamed when he saw that the Elf lock picked the door to Bilbo's room. The hobbit father rose from the floor but fell down again with another scream as an arrow from another Elf had pierced his leg.

Bilbo clenched his jaw and held his mother's hand tightly, wishing and wishing desperately that the Elf wasn't going to open the wardrobe door. Two green eyes suddenly stared at them in the darkness and a laugh emerged from the Elf's mouth. He dragged out Belladonna, giving her throat a kiss from his dagger. Blood spurted out from her throat; she fell headlong down on the floor, the light of her eyes already burned out.

Bilbo let out a cry in fear and shock, he tried to move farther back in the wardrobe but the wall stopped him. He managed to grab his map and hide it inside his night-gown before the crazy Elf got a hold of his wrists and dragged him out of the wardrobe, tied a rope tightly around Bilbo's wrists and lifted Bilbo over his shoulders like he was some hunting prey. Bilbo tried not to look at Buffo's dead body when the Elf walked towards the door but it was hard, so hard. He let out another sob and started crying when he saw his father's still body lying almost next to Buffo.

"Father… Mother… Buffo…" he whispered sadly between sobs and coughed when the Elf suddenly threw him up on a hard horse back. The stars glinted on the sky and Bilbo had never felt more alone than he did now.


	2. Chapter 2

"Wake up halfling! Dawn is coming!" Bilbo woke up with a sharp pain in his back; the green-eyed Elf had kicked him awake. The hobbit gave the Elf a confused look, not sure where he were or what the time was. He was lying in a moss-covered grove; the sun's ray's barely made it through the thick forest canopy. Bilbo suddenly remembered yesterday's events; his dead father laying beside their dead dog on the floor, his dead mother with her throat bleeding out. His family was dead and he was all alone. His chest started aching painfully and tears burned in his eyes.

"Mother… Father… Buffo…" he whispered painfully and started sobbing. Bilbo had never known pain like this before; he had never been without his family, the only life he knew was with his family and now they were gone. Dead. The boy crawled into a ball of shaking, sobbing mess but the green-eyed Elf disturbed him with another kick of his leather boot.

"I said UP! Not lying down again!" the Elf growled furiously and pulled Bilbo harshly from the ground and up on the horse's back again. Bilbo grunted from the pain of being thrown on the hard horseback and lost his breath for a moment. The green-eyed Elf sat up on the horse, kicked its sides and the horse went into a trot. Its hooves were almost inaudible on the soft forest ground. Bilbo cried for a while until the Elf snarled that he should shut up or else he would kick him again. Bilbo bit back the lump in his throat and managed to swallow it down; afraid of the pain the Elf may cause him.

The light of the day soon turned to an orange soft light before turning dark as they rode through the forest. Crickets chirped playfully in the dark, an owl hooted and Bilbo could hear the soft flutter of its wings over his head. He wondered how long they had ridden, it was a cold nip in the air and goose bumps covered his arms. He only wore his night-gown after all and even though it was made of sheep's wool, it still wasn't warm enough to keep the cold of the night away.

The Elf suddenly stopped the horse; Bilbo looked up at the Elf's neck, wondering why they had stopped. Long, pointy ears protruded through a curtain made of silver hair, Bilbo wondered how the hair would feel against his fingertips. Would it feel rough like Buffo's fur or would it be as soft as his father's velvet waist coat? Curiosity took over him and he tried to stretch out his hand but the elven ropes around his wrists stopped him. He pouted angrily and sighed, hating that he was bound like a cow to a pole. The Elf steered the horse to the right into a dense spot of the forest close to the pathway before he jumped off, his feet landing inaudibly on the ground. He made sure Bilbo was securely fastened before sneaking away, hiding behind a tree a couple of feet from where Bilbo was.

Two young men, taller than hobbits but still around the average hobbit size were walking down the forest path. The dark-haired man held the reins to a piebald pony that walked behind them. They were talking with each other, laughing and making jokes, the second more lame than the first.

"Have you heard about this one then Fíli? About the elven man who fell into a barrel of fish?" the man with dark-hair said.

"No Kíli! I haven't!" the blonde haired man replied and smiled at the other man. The dark-haired man was just about to tell the blonde-haired man his joke but was interrupted by an arrow piercing his leg. The piebald pony neighed and galloped away from them. Bilbo watched in horror as the silver-haired Elf went out from the forest and stood in front of the men with his daggers and bow. Bilbo didn't dare to warn the men, afraid the Elf might hurt him again. The dark-haired man growled from pain, he grabbed a sword that hung on his back and limped towards the Elf, a war cry escaping his mouth. The blonde man grabbed a war hammer that hung from his belt and ran to the Elf, ready to crush the elf's head with his hammer.

"Dwarves! You can do nothing against me!" Silver, which Bilbo just had named him, shouted. In a flash, Silver had shot another arrow into Kíli's leg. The dwarf dropped to the ground, grunting in pain, desperately trying to drag out the arrows from his legs.

"Kíli!" Fíli shouted horrified, slung his hammer over his head to crush Silver's head but the Elf was too quick, escaping the impact within seconds. He laughed maniacally and shot an arrow at Fíli's leg, making the dwarf fall to the ground with a loud thud and a snarl of pain. Silver quickly tied them together with a similar rope he had used for Bilbo, and then he dragged them back to the spot where Bilbo was. Silver bound the dwarves' rope tight around Bilbo's waist before he gracefully sat up on the horse and started riding again. The dwarves limped slowly behind the horse, not even trying to struggle, their eyes dimmed with shame. Bilbo whined painfully as the rope dug into his waist when Silver made the horse trot.

"It hurts!" he whined and tried to wrangle his way through the rope but it was securely bound and it hurt even more to struggle. "Please bind them off me!" he begged but Silver didn't reply, he just continued to ride on the small pathway.

Night turned into dawn and Bilbo must have fallen asleep because he couldn't remember when Silver had untied the dwarves from him. Fíli and Kíli were sitting next to a little creek, bound to a large stone but still able to move a little. Fíli's wounded leg was in the water, he winced when the water touched the wound. Bilbo noticed that Silver was nowhere to be seen. He also noticed that he was still bound to the horse. Sighing disappointed, he watched the dwarves, trying to forget that he was still tied up.

"We have to clean the wounds, otherwise they will be infected! Especially yours Kíli since you have two wounds!" Fíli said angrily to Kíli but the dwarf ignored him, staring at the water. Fíli continued to clean his wound until he thought it was clean enough, he tore off a piece of his clothing and enveloped the wound with it.

"Now it's your turn brother! Don't be so darn stubborn!" Fíli growled and pushed Kíli's legs into the water. Kíli screamed and tried to struggle but Fíli was stronger than him. He cleaned the wounds quickly and tore off two bits of clothing from Kíli and bandaged his brother's wounds with them.

"You will regret this!" Kíli said sourly, crossing his arms and looking away from his brother. Fíli rolled his eyes at his brother's childish behavior.

"You should be happy I care about you! Unlike the damn Elf that came out of nowhere and made us his prisoners!" he growled but his younger brother didn't listen. Bilbo looked at the dwarves and chuckled a little, he had seen hobbit siblings fighting before but not like this.

"What are you laughing about _hobbit_? Don't you have anything else to do?" Fíli grunted, his blue eyes piercing Bilbo's eyes.

"No actually, I don't. I'm distracting myself from hunger by laughing at you", he smirked and wiggled his toes teasingly. Fíli rolled his eyes again and stared out into the woods, wondering when the Elf would come back.

Bilbo sighed at the two now sleeping dwarves', they had been quiet for some time now and he had started getting bored. His bum hurt from the horse's stiff back, he was hungrier than a starving wolf, he was dirty and longed for a bath in the creek. Silver came noiselessly from an opening of the wood with another horse and a carriage. He stopped the horse beside Bilbo and went to the dwarves' kicking them awake and dragging them to the carriage. The dwarves' climbed up on the carriage, still not struggling. They sat down on the carriage like a pair of obeying dogs; let their hands be bound stiffly behind their backs and their legs be bound together.

Silver nodded pleasingly at his catch and seated himself on the carriage in front of the bound dwarves. He grabbed the other horse's reins and made the both horses trot. Bilbo winced in pain and hunger over the next couple of hours while the dwarves' were quiet as mice. Bilbo had been complaining for three hours until both Silver and Fíli in a choir growled him to shut up.

"But I haven't eaten for so long, I'm so hungry, please Silver, let me eat something!" Bilbo begged desperately, looking at the Elf with big eyes. Silver stared back at him, anger flaring in his eyes.

"What did you just call me?" he snarled. Kíli and Fíli both stared at the Elf in fear, afraid of what he might do to the hobbit child.

"S-silver…?" Bilbo stuttered his cheeks flushed in embarrassment and fear. "You haven't told me your name so I came up with one myself. Your hair is colored with silver so I thought Silver might fit", Bilbo managed to say, horrified.

"Your stupid bravery and wild fantasy will be your end _Halfling_!" Silver hissed, he steered the carriage closer to Bilbo and slapped Bilbo's cheek with his palm. Bilbo's face went white and he looked away from Silver while holding his aching cheek with his hand. He tried not to cry but some tears escaped his eyes.

"You NEVER come up with a nickname for an Elf, and especially not in Westron tongue! It pains me to even speak this disaster of a language!" Silver growled and then he, at least what it sounded like, cursed in the language of the Elves and made the horses gallop just to make Bilbo hurt more.

Bilbo tried apologizing and begged for the Elf to make the horses stop or at least walk again but Silver didn't listen, he just stared at the road in front of them and ignored everything that Bilbo begged about.


	3. Chapter 3

"I'm sorry I forgot to feed you", Silver said, his voice oozing with sarcasm. "Here you go", the Elf grinned before walking away into the dark forest, leaving the hobbit and the two dwarves alone. A slice of partly moldy bread and a small sack of water dropped next to Bilbo's feet. He grabbed them hungrily, wolfed the bread down and drank the water in a couple of minutes. He hadn't eaten since his birthday, which was five days ago if he had counted the days right. He leaned back against an oak tree he was tied by and let out a sigh, his stomach still rumbling after more food. His gaze wandered around the small camp Silver had made later on the evening, Fíli and Kíli were eating their shared bread in front of a fire.

They haven't talked with Bilbo at all since Silver had punched him. Bilbo thought they had stopped talking to him because of fear of Silver; the Elf had been in a really bad mood lately, much because of Bilbo's happening the other day. It saddened him a bit, he had loved talking to them even though it had been a brief conversation and he hadn't felt as alone anymore. He wondered if they would ever speak to him again, at least he hoped they would. The boy sighed once again, looking at the star glinting sky before he remembered that he had the map of Middle-Earth hidden inside his night-gown.

He carefully took hold of it and opened it, the map had become a little wrinkly from all horse riding but it was still in good quality. It was pretty dark outside but light from the moon managed to shine down through the tree tops. Bilbo squinted his eyes and looked at the map in same fascination as he had done the day he received it. He looked over the map's forests and wondered which of them he was in now. Mirkwood maybe or more likely Bindbole Wood? Perhaps he was in the Old Forest? He didn't know but he was too excited to let it go. He turned his gaze to Kíli and Fíli who were still eating the bread, it seemed like they ate each bite with devotion.

"Psst. Fíli? Kíli?" Bilbo said quietly to the dwarves, trying to catch their attention. They ignored him blankly while eating the last crumbs of their slice of bread. "Fíli?" Bilbo tried again and struck his feet against the ground to make them hear him. Fíli looked at Bilbo quickly, shaking his head before averting his eyes.

Suddenly Silver appeared beside Bilbo, his hair almost glowing from the light of the moon. Beside him was a female elf, she had short, dark brown hair and a sweet smile. She looked at the hobbit and the dwarves, chuckled shortly before opening her bag. A white and grey head looked out of it with two brown eyes. Buffo! Bilbo released a shout of joy and whined loudly while tears of shock and joy burned in his eyes.

"Buffo, you're alive!" he cried and the dog jumped out of the bag and ran to the hobbit, licking his face all over and barking happily. Silver watched them with a raised eyebrow before looking at the female elf. "What is this Quinn?" his voice was poison.

"It's a dog. Can't you see that?" she hissed while rummaging through her bag, looking for something.

"Don't you use that language to me!" Silver shouted. "Why do you have a dog with you? Why does the hobbit know who the dog is?" Silver put his slender hands around the female elf's throat and strangled her while staring into her eyes. His mouth turned into a murderous grin when air escaped the other elf.

"Let me speak!" the elf managed to say and Silver reluctantly released her. "I found the dog inside a hobbit hole! It lied heavily wounded beside a dead hobbit man and I thought I should rescue it. I felt bad for it. I didn't want it to die so I used my healing powers to save it. And I don't know how this hobbit child can know of it", she explained and gave Bilbo a quick look. Silver wrinkled his nose, he hated animals and he _hated_ Quinn's soft side.

"I see. Well, there you have the Halfling who lived in the same house as the stupid dog and the dead man. He is their child. I killed his parents and I thought I had killed the dog. Apparently not", Silver sighed. "Did you bring anything of value from the Halfling's house or just the dog? I'd kill it again if you hadn't wasted your healing on it."

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Yes, I took all of their money and I also found an elven heirloom I didn't recognize. And a book. In elvish." She smiled mischievously. Bilbo blushed a little; she looked beautiful when she smiled like that.

"Show them to me!" Silver demanded and took the bag from her. He threw out a sheathed dagger, an old book and gold made earrings on the wet ground. His eyes lit up when he found what he was looking for. He carefully took out the heirloom and the elven book.

"I don't recognize these", his said, his voice suddenly soft and interested. He opened the book carefully and scanned the pages with his eyes. "We have to show them to our master!

"Halfling! Do you know what these are?" he grabbed Bilbo's chin harshly and kicked Buffo away. Bilbo let out a moan of pain and shook his head, "I don't know what they are. I didn't even know we had them!" he said, his voice thick of fright.

"Useless Halfling!" Silver snorted, releasing Bilbo. Buffo returned to Bilbo's side and rolled into a ball, sighing contently.

"I don't suppose you _dwarves_", Silver said with disgust, "know anything about these?" he stretched out the elven book and heirloom.Fíli and Kíli shook their heads in unison and looked away from Silver's gaze.

"Alright then", Silver grinned, "I should punish you all for not knowing but my master will be angry with me if I wound you too much", the elf chuckled and put the valuables down into Quinn's bag. She shot an angry eye at the other elf, quickly returning the things he had thrown out to her bag.

"You have rested too much, we need to keep going", Silver said, dragged Bilbo up on the ground and put him on his horse behind the saddle. Quinn forced the dwarves to rise from the ground and securely tied them together back on the wagon before she made the horses moving. Buffo immediately ran to Bilbo and walked beside the trotting horses, keeping a watchful eye on his owner.


End file.
